Systems and methods for arranging participant interview clips for ethnographic research

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for arranging participant interview clips for conducting ethnographic research. Video clips and photographs of interviews of participants in a market research study are stored in a database. Each item stored in the database is tagged with an interpretive tag indicative of an observed behavioral, attitudinal, or emotive characteristic of the participant. A user searches the database for tags or search terms of interest, and selects clips from the search results for inclusion in a perspective, which is a collection of selected clips and their associated tags and comments from multiple users who collaborate to determine which clips to include in the perspective. The process of creating a perspective is iterative and collaborative, in which the database can be mined and re-mined using different search strategies by multiple users, who provide their comments on selected clips to form a perspective that can be used for product innovation.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication Ser. No. 61/498,890, filed Jun. 20, 2011, entitled “Systemsand Methods for Arranging Participant Interview Clips for EthnographicResearch,” which is incorporated herein in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Aspects of the present disclosure relate to systems and methods forarranging or managing participant interview media files, including videoclips and photographs, for ethnographic research in connection with amarket research study.

BACKGROUND

Market research endeavors to understand what motivates a consumer'spurchasing behavior and how products or services can be modified orinnovated to entice more consumers to purchase the product or service.The research involves conducting interviews with volunteers (calledparticipants) who agree to be photographed or recorded by audio and/orvideo means, typically in the environment in which they use or interactwith or are exposed to a product or service. These interviews are storedand organized in a database as media files. The research tends to belinear, non-collaborative, and is not well-suited to understand theemotive, behavioral, or attitudinal drivers or underpinnings behind aconsumer's purchasing decision. Nor is conventional research well-suitedfor revealing multiple perspectives from interrogating the same data.These perspectives could span across seemingly unrelated product linesand yield surprising paradigmatic shifts in product direction orinnovation, but the data is not arranged or tagged in a manner thatpermits these perspectives to emerge. Aspects of the present disclosureaddress these and other shortcomings.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure includes systems and methods (e.g., in the formof a web-based software program interface) for storing and organizingmedia clips for the purpose of conducting internally observation-basedethnographic research, which focuses on identifying and taggingbehavioral cues relating to a participant's home environment orinteraction with or impressions of a client's product. Ethnographicresearchers tag the media clips stored in a database based on observedbehaviors of the participants in the media clips. As a result, byidentifying problems arising from the participants' behavioral cuesobserved by the researchers in the media clips, solutions to a clientcan be recommended that could lead the client to product innovations ordesign solutions, identify macro-level trends, set planning priorities,or the like, providing the client with a competitive edge by refiningtheir existing products or designing new ones that would be moresatisfying to the participant. The output of the software interfaceincludes a collection of media clips called a perspective, which, forexample, reveal a pattern indicative of a recurring behavior bydifferent participants.

An aspect of the present disclosure is re-use of the media data in thedatabase to mine the same data repeatedly but with different focuses toproduce different outputs. The deeper the database grows, the more there-use aspect is increasingly enhanced. The tags associated with themedia files stored in the database are integral to the ability of usersof the database to mine the data for relevant clips for inclusion in aperspective that can be used for product innovation.

Conventional market research studies involve asking the client todescribe the problem. Once the problem is defined, recommendations aboutproduct modifications or innovations are provided that focus onaddressing the problem described from the client's viewpoint. Theapproach offered by aspects of the present disclosure defines theproblem from the participant's perspective by asking open-endedquestions that are designed to elicit unsolicited and spontaneousinformation from the participant, divorced from any preconceivedinfluences from the manufacturer. In this way, behavior-based patternscan be identified in participants' product interactions that are notascertainable from conventional solutions. Media files (which caninclude video clips of participant interviews, photographs, audio files,or any combination thereof) are stored on and accessed by a media filedatabase, and each media file is associated with one or morebehavioral-based tags or themes, called “interpretive” tags. A keyaspect of the present disclosure is the ability to associate“interpretive” tags with a media file that depicts a participant'senvironment or interaction with a product. As used herein, an“interpretive tag” is a value stored in a memory device and indicativeof an observed behavioral, attitudinal, or emotive characteristic of ahuman participant being photographed or video-recorded under observationand/or questioning by a researcher in connection with a market researchstudy. An interpretive tag as used herein differs from a descriptive tagused by prior art systems.

Another aspect of the present disclosure is the ability to mine the sametagged data repeatedly with different foci to produce different outputs.This functionality appreciates that humans are not one-dimensional, butrather can provide a variety of behavioral cues that are apparent onlyby re-targeting the data with a focus on a particular behavioralpattern. The cumulative knowledge obtained by producingmulti-dimensional outputs with different behavioral foci makes thesystems of the present disclosure extremely flexible, and thebehavior-based tags are key to this flexibility. In fact, instead ofbeing stymied by more tagged data, as the database grows deeper, themore versatile the system becomes.

When a user enters a search, the software interface displays tags(including interpretive tags) that are relevant to the search term anddisplays the number of clips associated with each related tag. Accuratetag results are key to the user's ability to identify patterns acrossdifferent clips to construct a story or eventually a feature orperspective for publication to a wider audience.

According to another aspect, when a user selects a clip from thedatabase to view, the software interface also displays icons of clipscomprising the entire interview as a timeline, including the clipsimmediately before and after the selected clip. By mousing or hoveringover any clip, related tags are displayed associated with that clip. Thesoftware interface also displays similar media clips that share the sametags as the selected media clip. The user can also add dissimilar clipsto a sandbox or perspective as described in more detail below.

As the user views a media clip, the software interface can also displayphotos from the interview to provide context for the participant'sdescriptions or references not shown in the media clip being played. Atevery stage of the “funnel” process in which multiple users collaborateto select clips from the database to create a perspective, tagsassociated with displayed clips are shown, similar clips sharing atleast one tag in common with any tag associated with a displayed clip,and the number of other clips in the database that share the same tag asthe displayed clip can be displayed. By displaying interpretive tagswith displayed clips, similar clips, and other clips sharing the sametags, users can coalesce around a subset of media files that can yieldsurprising perspectives about products or about a participant'sattitude, behavior, or emotional feelings about a product or anenvironment. These perspectives can be used to brainstorm aboutimprovements or innovations to products that might involve products thatseemingly are completely unrelated to one another. The greater thevariety of data stored in the database, the richer it becomes.Interviews about many different types of products can be stored in thedatabase to reveal ethnographic patterns in the data that can lead toinnovations that would not otherwise emerge from data about a singleproduct or line of products.

The user's search history is displayed on a dashboard, allowing the userto see at-a-glance prior searches and recall them quickly in a storygrid. In some aspects, items viewed or accessed are stored in a sessionfor later retrieval. The footprints allow the user to see searchstrategies, which can include searches for interpretive tags in thedatabase.

The user can also filter by tags in addition to media type, date added,and rating. By selecting a particular tag, all clips in the databasethat are associated with the selected tag are displayed as a story gridfor selection by the user. In addition, a count frequency is indicatedwith each tag as a tally of the number of times the tag appears in thesearch results displayed in the story grid.

When a tag is selected from a list of tags displayed with a timeline ofa participant interview clip selected for playback by a user, markersare highlighted along the timeline at each clip that is associated withthe selected tag in the interview so that the user can see where in thedisplayed timeline of the interview the selected tag was marked.

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, a method of arrangingmedia files for ethnographic research is provided. The method includes:storing in a database a plurality of electronic media files eachincluding a digital photograph or a video clip of an interview of ahuman participant being photographed or video-recorded under observationor questioning by a researcher in connection with a market researchstudy; using a controller, associating with each of at least some of theelectronic media files one or more distinct interpretive tags, each ofthe interpretive tags being a data element stored in the database andindicative of an observed behavioral, attitudinal, or emotivecharacteristic of the human participant; receiving, using thecontroller, (a) a selection of at least a selected one of theinterpretive tags or (b) a query that is run on the database includingthe interpretive tags; producing a search result responsive to thereceiving, the search result including a subset of the electronic mediafiles, each of at least some of the subset of electronic media filesbeing associated with at least one of the interpretive tags or with theselected one of the interpretive tags; causing to be displayed on adisplay device a representation of the search result as a plurality ofthumbnail images, each of the thumbnail images corresponding to adigital photograph or a video clip of corresponding ones of the subsetof the electronic media files; and causing to be displayed on thedisplay device a plurality of related tags associated with the subset ofelectronic media files, wherein at least one of the related tagsincludes an interpretive tag.

The method can further include: receiving an indication of a selectionof a first selected one of the subset of the electronic media files;causing to be displayed on the display device at least some of theinterpretive tags that are associated with the first selected electronicmedia file; and causing to be displayed on the display device a set ofsimilar thumbnail images corresponding to a second subset of electronicmedia files each having at least one common interpretive tag with thefirst selected electronic media file, each of the thumbnail images inthe set of similar thumbnail images corresponding to a video clip or adigital photograph stored in the database.

The method can further include: receiving an indication to store thefirst selected electronic media file in a session by a first user of afirst user account; and responsive to receiving the indication to storethe first selected electronic media file, storing the first selectedelectronic media file in the session.

The method can further include: authorizing access to the first useraccount prior to storing the first selected electronic media file in thesession; and causing to be displayed on the display device a firstusername associated with the first user account.

The method can further include causing to be displayed on the displaydevice a set of recommended thumbnail images corresponding torecommended ones of the electronic media files that each share at leastone interpretive tag in common with the interpretive tag associated withthe first selected electronic media file.

The method can further include: authorizing access to a second useraccount; receiving an indication of a selection of a second selected oneof the subset of the electronic media files by a second user of thesecond user account; and storing the second selected electronic mediafile in the session.

The method can further include inviting the second user to access thesession by sending an invitation to a contact identifier associated withthe second user account, the invitation including a code or identifierassociated with the session. The contact identifier can include an emailaddress or a mobile telephone number.

The method can further include receiving by the second user an inputthat includes the code to grant access by the second user account to thesession.

The method can further include receiving an indication from the seconduser to remove the first selected electronic media file from thesession, and responsive thereto, removing the first selected electronicmedia from the session.

The method can further include: prompting the first user to enter adescription explaining why the first selected electronic media file isbeing selected for inclusion in the session; and causing to be displayedon the display device the description with the thumbnail imagecorresponding to the first selected electronic media file and theinterpretive tag associated with the first selected electronic mediafile.

The method can further include: prompting the second user to enter asecond description explaining why the second selected electronic mediafile is being selected for inclusion in the session; and causing to bedisplayed on the display device the second description with thethumbnail image corresponding to the second selected electronic mediafile.

The method can further include: prompting the first user to enter adescription explaining why the first selected electronic media file isbeing selected for inclusion in the session; and causing to be displayedon the display device the description with the thumbnail imagecorresponding to the first selected electronic media file such that thethumbnail image corresponding to the first selected electronic mediafile and the associated description and the thumbnail imagecorresponding to the second selected electronic media file and theassociated second description are displayed in the session on the samepage on the display device.

The method can further include: storing in the session a plurality ofselected electronic media files including the first selected electronicmedia file; receiving an indication from the first user of a selectionof a selected one of the selected electronic media files stored in thesession; storing the selected electronic media file stored in thesession in a perspective that is distinct from the session; promptingthe first user to enter a description explaining why the selectedelectronic media file stored in the perspective is being selected forinclusion in the perspective; and causing to be displayed on the displaydevice the description with a thumbnail image corresponding to theselected electronic media file stored in the perspective and at leastone interpretive tag associated therewith. Others of the electronicmedia files may not be associated with any interpretative tag.

The method can further include: causing to be displayed on the displaydevice a timeline of icons of a video-recorded interview with which thefirst selected electronic media file is associated, each of the iconsrepresenting a thumbnail image corresponding to a video clip of aportion of the video-recorded interview; causing to be highlighted onthe display device a first of the icons corresponding to the firstselected electronic media file in the timeline; receiving a selection ofa second of the icons in the timeline; and causing to be displayed asecond thumbnail image corresponding to a second video clip of a portionof the video-recorded interview and at least one interpretive tagassociated with the second video clip. The second thumbnail image can bedisplayed as a popup. The receiving the selection of the second icon caninclude receiving an indication of mousing or hovering over the secondicon to cause the popup to appear.

The associating can include storing in the database the one or moredistinct interpretive tags with corresponding ones of the at least someelectronic media files.

The method can further include causing to be displayed on the displaydevice a listing of all tags associated with the electronic media filesstored in the database, wherein one or more of the tags in the listingare selectable by a user input device, and wherein each media file inthe subset of electronic media files in the search result is associatedwith the selected one or more tags.

The method can further include causing to be displayed with each of therelated tags a value corresponding to the number of electronic mediafiles in the subset of electronic media files associated withcorresponding ones of the related tags.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium encoded with instructions to cause one or morecontrollers to implement a method is provided. The method can includeany combination of the foregoing aspects.

According to yet another aspect of the present disclosure, a system isprovided, which includes: a database storing a plurality of electronicmedia files each including a digital photograph or a video clip of aninterview of a human participant being photographed or video-recordedunder observation or questioning by a researcher in connection with amarket research study; a controller configured to associate with each ofat least some of the electronic media files one or more distinctinterpretive tags, each of the interpretive tags being a data elementstored in the database and indicative of an observed behavioral,attitudinal, or emotive characteristic of the human participant; and aninterface coupled to the controller and configured to receive aselection of at least a selected one of the interpretive tags; a queryparser or language engine coupled to the database and configured toreceive a query that is run on the database including the interpretivetags, where the controller is configured to produce a search result thatincludes a subset of the electronic media files, each of at least someof the subset of electronic media files being associated with at leastone of the interpretive tags or with the selected one of theinterpretive tags, the interface is configured to cause to be displayedon a display device (a) a representation of the search result as aplurality of thumbnail images, each of the thumbnail imagescorresponding to a digital photograph or a video clip of correspondingones of the subset of the electronic media files, and (b) a plurality ofrelated tags associated with the subset of electronic media files, andwhere at least one of the related tags includes an interpretive tag.

The controller can be configured to carry out any of the foregoingaspects.

According to still another aspect of the present disclosure, a methodincludes: storing in a database a plurality of electronic media fileseach including a digital photograph or a video clip of an interview of ahuman participant being photographed or video-recorded under observationor questioning by a researcher in connection with a market researchstudy; using a controller, associating with each of at least some of theelectronic media files one or more distinct interpretive tags, each ofthe interpretive tags being a data element stored in the database andindicative of an observed behavioral, attitudinal, or emotivecharacteristic of the human participant; receiving, using thecontroller, (a) a selection of at least a selected one of theinterpretive tags or (b) a query that is run on the database includingthe interpretive tags; producing a search result responsive to thereceiving, the search result including a subset of the electronic mediafiles, at least one electronic media file of the subset of electronicmedia files being associated with at least one of the interpretive tagsor with the selected one of the interpretive tags; causing to bedisplayed on a display device a listing of at least some of the tagsthat are associated with the electronic media files of the subset ofelectronic media files; and causing to be displayed on the displaydevice a representation of similar electronic media files each sharingat least one interpretive tag in common with the interpretive tagassociated with the at least one electronic media file of the subset ofelectronic media files.

The method can further include causing to be displayed on the displaydevice a value corresponding to the number of other electronic mediafiles in the database that are associated with the same interpretive tagas the interpretive tag associated with the at least one electronicmedia file of the subset of electronic media files.

The method can further include causing to be displayed on the displaydevice a selected one of the subset of electronic media files forplayback and a timeline including a plurality of icons arranged inchronological order and representing media clips of an interview thatincludes the selected one of the subset of electronic media files forplayback.

The method can further include causing to be displayed on the displaydevice at least some of the tags associated with the selected one of thesubset of electronic media files for playback, wherein at least one ofthe at least some of the tags associated with the selected one of thesubset of electronic media files for playback is an interpretive tag.

The method can further include receiving an indication of a selection ofone of the icons of the timeline, and responsive thereto, causing to bedisplayed on the display device a representation of an electronic mediafile associated with the selected icon and at least one interpretive tagassociated with the electronic media file associated with the selectedicon.

The selected icon can be selected by mousing or hovering over theselected icon to cause the representation and the at least oneinterpretive tag associated with the electronic media file associatedwith the selected icon to appear as a popup.

The method can further include: authorizing a first user to access asession, the session including a first subset of electronic media filesand their associated tags; receiving a selection by the first user of aselected first electronic media file from the subset of electronic mediafiles for inclusion in a storage location; storing the selected firstelectronic media file in the storage location; receiving a selection bythe second user of a selected second electronic media file from thesubset of electronic media files; storing the selected second electronicmedia file in the storage location; and causing to be displayed on thedisplay device a representation of the selected first electronic mediafile and at least one interpretive tag associated with the selectedfirst electronic media file and a representation of the selected secondelectronic media file and at least one interpretive tag associated withthe selected second electronic media file.

The method can further include causing to be displayed on the displaydevice a plurality of recommended electronic media files, wherein eachof the recommended electronic media files is associated with at leastone interpretive tag in common with the first selected electronic mediafile or the second selected electronic media file.

The method can further include receiving an indication to drag theselected first electronic media file or the selected second electronicmedia file and drop the selected first electronic media file or theselected second electronic media file into a different location on thepage, and responsive thereto, cause the selected first or secondelectronic media file to be stored in a perspectives store.

The foregoing and additional aspects of the present disclosure will beapparent to those of ordinary skill in the art in view of the detaileddescription of various aspects, which are made with reference to thedrawings, a brief description of which is provided next.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing and other advantages of the present disclosure will becomeapparent upon reading the following detailed description and uponreference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a system for arrangingparticipant interviews to produce a perspective by multiple users of thesystem;

FIG. 2 is an illustration of exemplary actions that can be performed bycollaboration of two users of the system shown in FIG. 1 to select asubset of media clips for inclusion in a perspective;

FIG. 3 is an example page of a display interface for searching the mediafile database shown in FIG. 1 to produce search results displayed in astory grid or array as thumbnails corresponding to the media filesreturned by the search along with a listing of tags associated with thesearch results and a count of the frequency that the tag appears in thedatabase;

FIG. 4 is an example page that displays a clip selected from the storygrid shown in FIG. 3, with playback controls and an interview timelinethat allows the user to see all of the clips of the interview of whichthe selected clip is a part;

FIG. 5 is an example page that displays a popup that displays athumbnail of a clip in the timeline shown in FIG. 4 along with itsassociated tags;

FIG. 6 is an example page that displays a clip stored in a session andtags associated with the selected clip as well as tags associated withall clips in the session;

FIG. 7 is an example page of a session manager that allows the user toadd selected clips in the session to a sandbox;

FIG. 8 is an example page of the session manager shown in FIG. 7 thatshows thumbnails of clips stored in the session, recommended clips thatshare at least one tag in common with the clips corresponding to thethumbnails, and clips stored in the sandbox;

FIG. 9 is an example page that displays a user dragging and dropping aselected clip from the sandbox to a perspectives store;

FIG. 10 is an example perspectives manager page that allows the user toadd comments about a perspective and displays a listing of tagsassociated with clips in the perspective as well as tags associated withclips stored in the session, and thumbnails of the clips (includingphotographs) that are stored in the perspective; and

FIG. 11 is an example page that displays markers where a selected tagfor a clip appears in a timeline of an interview.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A system 100 for arranging participant interview clips, including videoclips and photographs, for ethnographic research is shown as afunctional block diagram in FIG. 1. The system 100 includes one or morecontrollers 102, which can be distributed over a network. For ease ofdiscussion, the one or more controllers 102 will be referred to hereinas the controller 102, but it is to be understood that the controller102 can include more than one controller. The controller 102 is coupledto a query parser or language engine 104, which is coupled to a mediafile database 106. Interpretive tags 108 and non-interpretive tags 110are inputted into the database and associated with various media filesstored in the media file database 106. A media file, which can be avideo clip of a participant interview, a photograph taken as part of aparticipant interview, or an audio recording of a participant interview,has at least one tag associated with it, and the tag can be aninterpretive tag or a non-interpretive tag or a combination of one ormore interpretive tags and one or more non-interpretive tags. Anon-interpretive tag is any other type of tag that is not aninterpretive tag. The term “tags” as used herein can refer generally toboth interpretive and non-interpretive tags.

The controller 102 is coupled to one or more I/O interfaces 112, whichreceive inputs from one or more users and communicate outputs to one ormore output devices. The inputs received by the I/O interface 112 can bereceived by one or more input devices 114, such as a computer mouse, atouchscreen, or other human-machine interface (HMI). The outputscommunicated by the I/O interface 112 can include a display device 116,such as a liquid crystal display or other video display device. Thedisplay device 116 can include one or more display devices. The I/Ointerface 112 is also coupled to one or more email or messaging modules120, which are configured to communicate messages by electronic mail,text messaging, or other electronic delivery arrangements.

Subsets of media files can be produced from the media files stored inthe media file database 106, and stored in one or more memory locationseither on the same memory device on which the media files reside or on adifferent memory device. A subset of each media clip viewed or accessedby a user of the system 100 can be stored in a session store 122.Selected media clips from the session store 122 can optionally be storedin a sandbox store 124 along with insights or comments or viewpoints(collectively, insights, comments, and viewpoints will be referred togenerally as comments herein) describing why the media clips wereselected for inclusion in the sandbox store 124. Which media files areincluded in the sandbox store 124 is a collaborative process in whichmultiple users can add or remove media files relative to the sandboxstore 124 to create an emerging perspective. From the sandbox store 124,some or all of the media files stored in the sandbox store 124 can beselected for inclusion in a perspectives store 126 along with comments,insights, or viewpoints from one or more users who collaborated todetermine which media files from the sandbox store 124 to include in theperspectives store 126. The stores 122, 124, 126 can be part of thedatabase 106, such as in a partition of the database, or they can bemaintained as one or more memory devices separate from and coupled tothe database 106.

Aspects of the present disclosure promote and encourage collaborationamong multiple users to produce a “perspective” about a product (as usedherein, a product includes a service). A perspective is a collection ofmedia files, such as video clips and/or digital photographs, which arearranged together with one or more tags including interpretive tags,commentary or observations about the selected media files in theperspective, and other input from multiple users of the system 100, toproduce a “story” or a new or different perspective about a product thatcan lead to product modifications or innovations. A compellingperspective tells a story, which can lead to shifts in thinking aboutthe ways consumers interact with products, what influences theirpurchasing behavior, or the emotional connection consumers have withtheir products. Integral to creating and publishing these stories orperspectives according to some aspects of the present disclosure is theinterpretive tag. Another is the collaborative and iterative way inwhich media files are selected and commented upon by multiple users ofthe system 100 for inclusion in a perspective. Put another way, aperspective is a deliverable that includes a collection of media files,commentary, and tags, arranged in a manner that tells a story oradvances a perspective, which can be published as an electronic reportor file for further deliberations about product direction or innovation.A perspective is part of a brainstorming process from which productinnovations and changes emerge.

An example of the collaborative and iterative aspects of the presentdisclosure is illustrated in FIG. 2. The left-side of the figurerepresents the media files and the various stores 122, 124, 126 in whichsome or all of the media files can be stored. The right-side of thefigure represents actions taken by a first user (“User 1”) and a seconduser (“User 2”) of the system 100. The sequences and actions depicted inFIG. 2 are merely exemplary to illustrate the collaborative anditerative aspects of the present disclosure. Aspects of the presentdisclosure encourage collaboration in that it involves multiple users tocollaborate on selecting media files for inclusion in a perspective andfor commenting upon why those media files should be included. Aspects ofthe present disclosure provide for an iterative process in which mediafiles can be added or removed by multiple users until a final set ofmedia files is settled upon for publication as a perspective. Tags,including interpretive tags 106, are displayed with the selected mediafiles to reveal behavioral, emotive, or attitudinal patterns inconnection with a participant's interaction with a product orenvironment.

Referring to FIG. 2, the media file database 106 includes many mediafiles 206, which can include digital photographs and video or audioclips of an interview of a human participant being photographed orvideo-recorded under observation or questioning by a researcher inconnection with a market research study. Each interview is recorded andproduces multiple video clips that together form the entire interview,and digital photographs taken during the interview can be stored withthe video clips in the media file database 106. The media file database106 can include hundreds or even thousands of media files 206, and agoal of the system 100 is to cull a few media files that can be puttogether in a compelling way to produce a new perspective on an existingor new product. In this example, User 1 performs a first search, whichproduces a first set of search results, termed “Search Results 1” inFIG. 2. The first search can by carried out by selecting one or moreinterpretive tags 108 or by entering a query that is run on the mediafile database 106 by the query parser/language engine 104. User 2performs a second search, which produces a second set of search results,termed “Search Results 2.” The use of the terms first, second, third,and so forth herein is not intended to convey any temporal sequence orrank of importance but rather to differentiate like elements from oneanother.

The two search results are shown diagrammatically in FIG. 2. SearchResults 1 has returned eight media files 208 having an associated tagset 1, while Search Results 2 has returned six media files 210 having anassociated tag set 2. The tag sets 1 and 2 can include interpretivetags. Each media file 208, 210 has associated with it one or more tags,which can be an interpretive tag 108, a non-interpretive tag 110, or acombination of both types 108, 110 of tags. User 1 selects four mediafiles 212 and adds them to Session 1. These four media files 212 can bestored in the session store 122. User 2 selects three media files 214and adds them to Session 2. Alternately, User 2 can add the threeselected media files 214 to the same Session 1 to which User 1 added thefour media files 212. Session 2 can also be stored in the session store122 in a separate memory space from where Session 1 is stored. Thesessions can act as a browsing history, keeping track of the media files208, 210 from the search results that the users access or view on thedisplay device 116. In an aspect, every video clip or photograph viewedby each user is stored in the session store 122 associated with thatuser.

The sessions help the users keep track of what they have viewed, but itis only the start of the collaborative and iterative process forselecting media files for inclusion in a perspective. In some aspects,an optional sandbox is provided, which is an intermediate storage forselected media files, their associated tags, and comments, insights, orviewpoints by the users who added the selected media files to thesandbox. In other aspects, the users can add media files directly fromthe session to a perspective. In FIG. 2, User 1 selects two media files216 from Session 1 to be added to the sandbox store 124, and User 2selects one media file 218 from Session 2 to be added to the sandboxstore 124. As mentioned above, the users can each have their ownsandboxes, or all users can add media files to a shared sandbox. Thetags associated with the selected media files 216, 218 are stored withthe files 216, 218 in the sandbox store 124 in addition to comments byUser 1 and User 2 explaining why they added the selected media files216, 218 or observations about the media files 216, 218 that can warrantfurther discussion or collaboration among multiple users.

Instead of adding selected clips from a session to the sandbox store124, in another implementation, all clips from a session can beautomatically stored in the sandbox store 124, and the user(s) removeselected clips from the sandbox store 124 until a subset of clips ofinterest remain in the sandbox store 124. Some or all of that subset ofclips of interest can be added to the perspectives store 126.

Although User 1 added two media files 216 to the sandbox 124, User 2 canadd or delete media files from the sandbox store 124 associated withUser 1. Thus, in the example shown in FIG. 2, User 2 removes one mediafile from the sandbox 124 that was added by User 1, reducing the numberof media files in the sandbox store 124 from three media files 216, 218to two media files 220. Multiple users, including Users 1 and 2, cancollaborate on the media files in the sandbox store 124, and decidecollaboratively which file(s) to be included in the perspectives store126. In this example, the collaborating users have decided to includeone media file 222 from the sandbox 124 in the perspectives store 126.The media file 222 has one or more tags associated with the media file222. Multiple users, including Users 1 and 2, can provide comments,insights, or viewpoints relating to a perspective that can be gainedfrom the media file 222, the tag, which can be an interpretive tag 108,and comments supplied by the users. The process is iterative, so it canbe repeated until the users collaborating on building a perspective haveadded their input in the form of media clips and their associated tagsand comments to the perspectives store 126. Media files can be added orremoved at any stage of the process shown in FIG. 2, and numerousiterations can be made until a final set of media files and associatedtags and user comments are stored in the perspectives store 126 and areready to be shared with or published to a wider or different audience.

FIGS. 3-11 illustrate example screen shots of a display interface thatcan be displayed, for example, by the display device 116. Theillustrations are not necessarily drawn to scale, and the layouts can beconfigured in different ways. Turning to FIG. 3, a search landing page300 is shown having a search area 302, a tag display and selection area304, an advanced search area 306, and a search result display area 308.The different areas can be arranged as frames or panels, for example, ona web page displayed by a web browser on a computing device. The searcharea 302 includes a search entry field 310 and a search button 312. Auser enters a query into the search entry field 310 for searching themedia file database 106, and selects the search button 312 via the inputdevice 114, such as a mouse or a touchscreen. The query can include aninterpretive tag, allowing the user to directly search for a particularinterpretive tag in the search entry field 310. Alternately, the usercan initiate a search by selecting a tag from the tag display andselection area 304, which includes a tab labeled “Related Tags” and atab labeled “All Tags.” By selecting the All Tags tab, a listing of allavailable tags in the media file database 106 is displayed, such as inalphabetical order, allowing the user to select one or more of theavailable tags, which can include a combination of interpretive tags 108and non-interpretive tags 110. Each of the tags listed in the listingcan be links, which when selected will search for all media filesassociated with the selected tag. Each of the tags can include acheckbox for selecting multiple tags to search in the database 106.

The advanced search area 306 includes pull-down or drop-down menuslabeled Project 322, Participant 324, Location 326, and Research Date328. These pull-down menus allow the user to search by project name(each market research study can be associated with a different projectname), by participant name (each participant's name is displayed as apull-down menu), by geographic location of the participant interview, orby the date or date range that the research (participant interview) wasconducted, respectively. As the user selects an item from one of themenus, the search results displayed as thumbnails and associatedcaptions in the search result display area 308 are dynamically updatedin real time to reflect the media files associated with the selecteditem, and the tag listing in the tag display and selection area 304 isdynamically updated in real time to reflect the tags corresponding tothe media files that appear in the search result display area 308.

The search results display area 308 includes an M×N (such as 5×6) arrayor story grid of thumbnail images, arranged in row and column formatwith M rows and N columns, starting with a thumbnail 1-1 in row 1,column 1, and ending with a thumbnail M-N in row M, column N. The searchresults from the search carried out by entering a query in the searchentry field 310, selecting one or more tags under the All Tabs tag, orconducting an Advanced Search in the advanced search area 306 aredisplayed as the thumbnail images 320 on the search landing page 300.The number and size of the thumbnails 320 are a function of the size ofthe screen corresponding to the display device 116. Each thumbnail image320 corresponds to a video clip or a photograph stored in the media filedatabase 106 as a media file and provides a still thumbnail imagerepresentative of a frame of the video clip or of a digital photograph.Under each thumbnail 320 appears a caption that corresponds to a summaryof a theme or observation about the thumbnail. Of course, the number ofthumbnails is directly a function of the number of results from thesearch result, so fewer or more thumbnails 320 can be displayed in thesearch result display area 308 depending on the number of results fromthe requested search. If there are too many results to display on thesingle page 300, a link can be provided to allow the user to displayadditional search results in the search result display area 308.

In the tag display and selection area 304, the user can search for aspecific tag by selecting the All Tags tab, which lists all of the tagsassociated with all of the electronic media files 206 stored in themedia file database 106. In this example, the tag display and selectionarea 304 lists a number of Tag Listings along with a parenthetical. Eachof the Tag Listings represents a distinct tag (either an interpretivetag 108 or a non-interpretive tag 110) and the parenthetical indicatesthe number of instances that particular tag is associated with the mediafiles returned in the search result display area 308. A tag listingrefers to the text description of a tag, and can include a link, whichwhen selected, runs a search for media files associated with theselected tag in the database 106 for display in the search resultdisplay area 308. For example, “frustration” can be the text descriptionof an interpretive tag, so the tag listing would display “Frustration”in the tag display and selection area 304 of the search landing page300. If the first tag example were “frustration,” there would be 134media files in the search results represented by the thumbnails 320 thathave the “frustration” tag associated with them. Similarly, 64 mediafiles have a different tag (e.g., “distrust”) associated with them, someof which can be associated with the same media files that are alsoassociated with the “frustration” tag. For example, the first thumbnail1-1 can correspond to a media file that is tagged with both the distrustand frustration tags. The user can search for a particular tag, such as“frustration” by entering the string “frustration” in the search entryfield 310 or can select the “frustration” tag from a list of all thetags available in the database 106. The tags are listed in the tagdisplay and selection area 304 in descending order based on thefrequency with which each of the tags appear in the thumbnails 320 ofthe search result displayed in the search result display area 308. Forexample, if the user ran a query for a particular product attribute, and“frustration” was returned as the most frequently tag of the media clipsin the search result, this would immediately inform the user thatparticipants expressed frustration over the product attribute, aninsight that the user can explore further by adding selected media filesfrom the search result to the sandbox store 124. Likewise, an insightcan be gained by the least frequently appearing tag. For example,suppose in the example that the tag “delight” appears only with six ofthe media files returned in the search result, but frustration appearsthe most frequently. The product attribute that was queried can now bescrutinized more closely to determine whether a frustration patternemerges that is preventing participants from delighting in the use andenjoyment of the product. The thumbnails 320 allow the user to see at aglance related media files that can provoke new insights based on thetags listed in the tag display and selection area 304.

Examples of interpretive tags can include acceptance, thoughtfulness,distrust, delight, inspiration, pride, embarrassment, concerns,confusion, frustration, inspiration, fear, disgust, joy, satisfaction,shame, attachment, detachment, resignation, anxiety, aspiration,peaceful, calm, loyalty, relaxing, tolerance, reassurance, comfort,trust, to name a few. The interpretive tags are indicative of anobserved behavioral (e.g., discomfort), attitudinal (e.g., detachment),or emotive (e.g., fear) characteristic of the human participant duringthe course of an interview in connection with a market research study.They are indicative of an observed reaction by the human participant,not a characteristic of the product or environment itself, but ratherhow the human perceives or reacts to an interaction with a product orenvironment. This type of research is known as ethnographic research,and the interpretive tagging relates to an ethnographic characteristicof humans. Non-interpretive tags include objective or factualcharacteristics about the participant (e.g., what the participant iswearing or the participant's age) or about the product (e.g., itsefficacy) that is the subject of the interview. Non-interpretive tagsare not ethnographic in nature, but rather are literal or objective orfactual as opposed to behavioral, attitudinal, or emotional likeinterpretive tags. Interpretive tags, as the name suggests, require adegree of human interpretation to characterize a behavioral,attitudinal, or emotional characteristic of a human, whereasnon-interpretive tags simply require accurate characterization of thecharacteristic or trait being described by the tag.

An integral part of the collaborative and iterative process by which aperspective is created from media files is the interpretive tag. Theinterpretive tag is displayed with media files of interest so that anethnographic characteristic or pattern can emerge from the data. Byranking a frequency of the interpretive tags for each search, abehavioral, attitudinal, or emotional characteristic can emerge as acandidate for further analysis. The database 106 can be reused and minedover and over again with different search strategies and foci to revealdifferent perspectives, perspectives that can span across product linesor involve unique and surprising patterns that would not otherwiseemerge by traditional data interrogation techniques in connection withmarket research studies.

Turning now to FIG. 4, like reference numbers refer to like features,even though they may appear on a different page or display interface. InFIG. 4, a clip viewer page 400 includes the search entry 302 and the tagdisplay and selection area 304. In addition, the clip viewer page 400includes a clip view area 402 and a similar clips area 404, againarranged as different frames or panels, for example, on a web page. Inthis example, the user has selected one of the thumbnails 320 in FIG. 3returned in a search result for playback. The media file correspondingto the selected thumbnail 320 is displayed in the clip playback area420. Playback controls 422 allow the user to play or pause the clipbeing played in the clip playback area 420. In some aspects, theplayback controls 422 can appear only when the user hovers over the clipplayback area 420, such as with a mouse or a finger. A clip progress bar424 indicates the progress of the playback from the start to the end ofthe selected clip. Below the clip playback area 420, the entireinterview is represented as a timeline 426 of small icons correspondingto each of the clips that form the entire interview, and the selectedclip 428 is highlighted to show the user where in the interview theselected clip among all the clips comprising the interview occurs. Eachicon in the timeline 426 links to other portions of the interview, andwhen selected, the corresponding video clip appears in the clip playbackarea 420. In the similar clips area 404, thumbnails 430 corresponding torelated media files are shown along with captions describing orsummarizing each thumbnail 430. In this area 404, each media cliprepresented by the thumbnail corresponds to a media file that shares atleast one tag in common with any tag associated with the selected clipbeing displayed in the clip playback area 420. Thus, the media fileassociated with the clip playback area 420 shares at least one tag(which can be an interpretive tag) in common with each of the mediafiles associated with the thumbnails 430 shown in the similar clips area404. In the tag display and selection area 304, the tags for theselected clip shown in the clip playback area 420 are displayed alongwith the frequency with which the tag appears in connection with othermedia files in the media file database 106. For example, if the mediafile corresponding to the clip being shown in the clip playback area 420is associated with a tag labeled “disconnection,” there are 34 othermedia files in the database 106 that are also tagged with the same“disconnection” tag, allowing the user to explore those other mediafiles. Likewise, photographs from the interview can also be selected inthe similar clips area 404.

In the interview exploration page 500 shown in FIG. 5, when the userhovers over an icon in the timeline 426, a popup 502 appears with athumbnail 520 of the selected clip along with the tags associated withthe selected clip. A play control 504 allows the user to play the clipdirectly from the popup 502. Importantly, the tags associated with theclip are displayed in the popup 502, which can include interpretivetags. This allows the user to quickly browse the entire interview whilescanning the tags associated with each clip in the interview. Aninterview comprises multiple video clips that together form the entireinterview. The interview can also include photographs, which areaccessed in the similar clips area 404. Like the video clips,photographs from an interview can also be tagged with interpretiveand/or non-interpretive tags.

It is important to note that tags appear in multiple places on the page500. The tags featured in the clip shown in the playback area 420 arelisted in the tag display and selection area 304, and the tagsassociated with a clip of the interview are displayed in the popup 502,allowing the user to see at-a-glance the tags associated with bothclips. Tags are a key to guiding the user to select media files forinclusion in a store that can be further analyzed and commented upon incollaboration with other users. Not only are tags associated with aparticular clip (as used herein, for ease of discussion, a “clip” canrefer to a video clip or a photograph) displayed, but the system 100also displays tags associated with similar clips or other clips thatshare the same tag as the selected clip. The display of tags fromdifferent or related or similar clips on the same page greatly aid theuser in selecting media files for inclusion in a store, such as theperspectives store 126, and can guide the user to other clips in thedatabase 106 as the user constructs a perspective.

In FIG. 6, an example session manager page 600 is shown, which conveyshow the user's browsing history can be saved in the session store 122 toallow the user to explore the clips without worrying about losing trackof clips the user has previously accessed. Whenever the user clicks onor accesses a clip (including a photograph), the media file and itsassociated tags corresponding to the clip is stored in the session store122. A search history area 602 shows the recent searches in the session,which can include queries (e.g., Search 1, Search 2) or tag selections(e.g., Tag Listing 1, Tag Listing 2), allowing the user to readilyretrieve a previously requested search. In some aspects, the searchesare listed in chronological order from left to right. A session historyarea 606 informs the user that the clip selected for playback in theclip playback area 620 and accessed during the session has been added tothe session history, meaning that the media file (or a link or pointerthereto) corresponding to the clip 620 has been stored in the sessionstore 122. A button labeled Show History 622 can be selected by the userto show the history of clips accessed and searches requested during theselected session. A sessions and perspectives selection area 604 allowsthe user to select one of multiple sessions 630, 632, 634 orperspectives (described in connection with FIG. 10) to retrieve theclips (along with their associated tags) accessed and searches requestedduring that session or perspective. A clip description area 610 displaysa description of the clip 620 being played in the clip playback area620. A tag listing area 612 lists the tags associated with the clip 620displayed in the clip playback area 620. An icon 628 is highlighted toshow where temporally in the timeline 426 of the interview the selectedclip 620 appears. The tags displayed in the tag display and selectionarea correspond to a selected number (e.g., top 30) or all of the tagsassociated with the clips in the session along with the frequency withwhich the particular tag appears in the database 106 (in parentheses).

A dropdown menu 624 labeled “Add to another Session” allows the user toadd the clip 620 to a different session. In this example, this clip hasbeen added to a session named Session Name 2 632 but the dropdown menu624 allows the user to move the clip to Session Name 1 630 or SessionName 3 634. On this page 600, the tags 612 associated with the clip 620are displayed in the clip description area 610 and the tags associatedwith all of the clips stored in the session store corresponding toSession Name 2 632 are also displayed in the tag display and selectionarea 304 along with a parenthetical indicating the frequency that eachtag appears in the search results for the most recent search conductedin the session. This allows the user to compare the tags 612 associatedwith the clip 620 with the tags associated with all of the clipsreturned by the searches requested in the session. The sessions listedin the sessions and perspectives selection area 604 are sessions createdby the user accessing the page 600 as well as sessions that the user isauthorized to access (regardless of whether the user created thesession). Each time the user logs into the system 100 followingauthentication in connection with the user account database 128, a newsession can be created in some implementations. The active session 632is highlighted, in this example, by an arrow or other suitable indicium.

FIG. 7 illustrates a session management page 700 in which the user addsa media file corresponding to a thumbnail 720 stored in the sessionstore associated with Session Name 2 632 to an optional sandbox store124. As emphasized above, the sandbox store 124 is optional and the usercan instead add clips directly from a session store 122 to theperspectives store 126. A search summary area 706 is shown along with asearch result display 708 with thumbnails 720 arranged in an array orstory grid corresponding to the media files returned in the most recentsearch shown in the search history area 602. Links allowing the user toswitch the search result view from video clips to photographs or to bothvideo clips and photographs. The media files corresponding to the searchresults are shown as thumbnails 720. In this example, the user hasselected one of the thumbnails 720 for inclusion in the sandbox store122 corresponding to the current session called Session Name 2 632. Acontrol, such as shown as a plus sign, is selected by the user toproduce a popup 722 that allows the user to add the media filecorresponding to the thumbnail 720 to the sandbox store 124. The popup722 can also prompt the user to enter a description explaining why theselected media file is being added to the sandbox store 124.

FIG. 8 illustrates another session management page 800 in which the usercan name and provide a description for the session, invite other usersto share or comment upon media clips in the session, and access mediafiles stored in the sandbox store 124. The session management page 800includes a session editing area 802 and a thumbnail viewer area 804. Inthe session editing area 802, controls are displayed that allow the userto name the session by entering a session name in a session name entryfield 810, to save the session name by selecting a save button 812,enter a description for the session in a session description entry field814, or invite other users to access the session corresponding toSession Name 2 632 by selecting via the input device 114 an InviteOthers button control 802. Invitations to other users of the system 100can be sent by email or text message using the email or messaging module120. The system 100 can automatically generate a unique passcode that issent with the email that the recipient users enters to gain access tothe session. The user account database 128 stores authenticationinformation about each user account that can access the database 106. Inthe thumbnail viewer area 804, tabs are displayed that allow the user toview all items in the session, clips recommended based on the currentsession, or items stored in the sandbox. In this example, six items(e.g., video clips and/or photographs) are stored in the session store124 corresponding to the session named Session Name 2 632, and there are14 further clips that are recommended based on this session. Theserecommended clips can share at least one tag in common tag with any orall media files stored in the session 632. In the thumbnail viewer area804, the thumbnail 720 shown in FIG. 7 is shown as the newest clip addedto the session 632. Other thumbnails 820 corresponding to media filespreviously added to the session 632 are also displayed in the thumbnailviewer area 804. In other implementations, the most recently added mediaclips to the session can appear in chronological order with the newestclip being added to the right of the most recently added clip in thethumbnail viewer area 804.

In FIG. 9, a sandbox management page 900 is shown, which allows a userto add a media file from the sandbox store 124 associated with a sessionto a perspectives store 126. The sandbox management page 900 includes asession description area 902 that displays the name of the session(e.g., Session Name 2), the date the session was created, the members ofthe session (e.g., two users named Username 1 and Username 2), and adescription of the session. The thumbnail viewer area 804 shows thatfive media clips have been added to the sandbox store 124, and the userhas selected a thumbnail 920 corresponding to one of the media filesstored in the sandbox store 124 for inclusion in the perspectives store126. In this example, the user can use the input device 114 (e.g., amouse or touchscreen) to drag and drop the thumbnail 920 from thethumbnail viewer area 804 to a perspectives area 904 on the page 900.Once dragged, the media file corresponding to the thumbnail 920 isstored in the perspectives store 126. A button control 906 labeledCreate Perspective allows the user to create a new perspective, which isdescribed in more detail in connection with FIG. 10.

FIG. 10 illustrates a perspectives management page 1000, which allowsone or more users who have access to the perspective to manage the mediafiles in the perspective. The perspectives management page 1000 includesa view mode area 1002, a perspective description area 1004, aperspectives comments entry field 1006, a perspectives tag listing area1008, and a thumbnail viewer area 1010. In the view mode area 1002, theuser can toggle a view mode of the perspectives by selecting an editcontrol 1012 or a preview control 1014. A share control 1016 allows thecurrent user to share the perspective with one or more other users. Thesystem 100 sends an email message or text message to the specifiedrecipients, and the message can include comments provided in theperspectives comments entry field 1006, and at least one media filestored in the perspective along with a tag listing of some or all tagsassociated with the selected media file. The message can further includea unique passcode that the recipient uses to gain access to theperspective being shared. Users who access the perspective can add theircomments about the perspective in the perspective comments entry field1006, allowing multiple users to collaborate and provide input on themedia files selected for the perspective. More than one perspective canbe associated with a session, such as shown in the sessions andperspectives selection area 604. In this example, the session namedSession Name 1 630 has two different perspectives associated with it.Each of these two perspectives can be stored in separate memory areas inthe perspectives store 126. The top five tags (by frequency ofappearance in the database 106) for the perspective are listed in theperspectives tag listing area 1008. In the thumbnail viewer area 1010,the user can view other clips or photos that are stored with theselected perspective in the perspectives store 126 by selecting a clipscontrol 1022 or a photos control 1024.

In the perspective description area 1004, a name of the perspective(“Perspective Name”) is displayed along with the usernames of thecontributors to the displayed perspective. In this example, threecontributors corresponding to Username 1, Username 2, and Username 3 aredisplayed in the perspective description area 1004.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example tag marker page 1100 that includes a clipviewer area 1102 and a tag listing area 110. In the clip viewer area1102, a clip (selected from a search result, a session, a sandbox, or aperspective) has been selected for playback in a playback area 1120 ofthe clip viewer area 1102. The user has selected one of the tags 1104 inthe tag listing (such as by hovering over or clicking the tag 1104), andmarkers 1106 are displayed along the timeline 426 of the interview nextto each clip (represented as icons 428) that is associated with theselected tag. This allows the user to quickly go to a different clipassociated with the same tag, such as an interpretive tag, as theselected clip appearing in the playback area 1120.

The example pages displayed in FIGS. 3-11 can be pages displayed by aweb browser under the control of the controller 102. The web browser canaccess the database 106 through an intranet or private local areanetwork, for example, or over the Internet through a firewall.Underlined elements can be clicked on by a mouse or selected by the userby touching a location corresponding to the link on a touchscreen. Boxescan represent button controls that can be selected by a mouse ortouchscreen input device. Popups can be popup windows or framesdisplayed on the page. The layout of the frames or areas is merelyexemplary, and other layouts are contemplated. A key aspect is thedisplay of tags and related tags with the clips displayed on the page,which facilitate the process by which clips are selected for inclusionin a perspective.

FIGS. 1-11, described by way of example above, represent one or morealgorithms that correspond to at least some instructions executed by theone or more controllers 102 to perform the above described functions,acts, or steps. Any of the methods or algorithms or functions describedherein can include non-transitory machine or computer-readableinstructions for execution by: (a) a processor, (b) a controller 120,and/or (c) any other suitable processing device. Any algorithm,software, or method disclosed herein can be embodied as a computerprogram product having one or more non-transitory tangible medium ormedia, such as, for example, a flash memory, a CD-ROM, a floppy disk, ahard drive, a digital versatile disk (DVD), or other memory devices, butpersons of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate that theentire algorithm and/or parts thereof could alternatively be executed bya device other than a controller and/or embodied in firmware ordedicated hardware in a well known manner (e.g., it may be implementedby an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmablelogic device (PLD), a field programmable logic device (FPLD), discretelogic, etc.).

While particular aspects and implementations of the present disclosurehave been illustrated and described, it is to be understood that thepresent disclosure is not limited to the precise construction andcompositions disclosed herein and that various modifications, changes,and variations are not only contemplated but also apparent from theforegoing descriptions without departing from the scope of the presentdisclosure as defined in the appended claims.

1. A method of arranging media files for ethnographic research,comprising: storing in a database a plurality of electronic media fileseach including a digital photograph or a video clip of an interview of ahuman participant being photographed or video-recorded under observationor questioning by a researcher in connection with a market researchstudy; using a controller, associating with each of at least some of theelectronic media files one or more distinct interpretive tags, each ofthe interpretive tags being a data element stored in the database andindicative of an observed behavioral, attitudinal, or emotivecharacteristic of the human participant; receiving, using thecontroller, (a) a selection of at least a selected one of theinterpretive tags or (b) a query that is run on the database includingthe interpretive tags; producing a search result responsive to thereceiving, the search result including a subset of the electronic mediafiles, each of at least some of the subset of electronic media filesbeing associated with at least one of the interpretive tags or with theselected one of the interpretive tags; causing to be displayed on adisplay device a representation of the search result as a plurality ofthumbnail images, each of the thumbnail images corresponding to adigital photograph or a video clip of corresponding ones of the subsetof the electronic media files; and causing to be displayed on thedisplay device a plurality of related tags associated with the subset ofelectronic media files, wherein at least one of the related tagsincludes an interpretive tag.
 2. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: receiving an indication of a selection of a first selectedone of the subset of the electronic media files; causing to be displayedon the display device at least some of the interpretive tags that areassociated with the first selected electronic media file; and causing tobe displayed on the display device a set of similar thumbnail imagescorresponding to a second subset of electronic media files each havingat least one common interpretive tag with the first selected electronicmedia file, each of the thumbnail images in the set of similar thumbnailimages corresponding to a video clip or a digital photograph stored inthe database.
 3. The method of claim 2, further comprising: receiving anindication to store the first selected electronic media file in asession by a first user of a first user account; and responsive toreceiving the indication to store the first selected electronic mediafile, storing the first selected electronic media file in the session.4. The method of claim 3, further comprising: authorizing access to thefirst user account prior to storing the first selected electronic mediafile in the session; and causing to be displayed on the display device afirst username associated with the first user account.
 5. The method ofclaim 3, further comprising causing to be displayed on the displaydevice a set of recommended thumbnail images corresponding torecommended ones of the electronic media files that each share at leastone interpretive tag in common with the interpretive tag associated withthe first selected electronic media file.
 6. The method of claim 4,further comprising: authorizing access to a second user account;receiving an indication of a selection of a second selected one of thesubset of the electronic media files by a second user of the second useraccount; and storing the second selected electronic media file in thesession.
 7. The method of claim 6, further comprising inviting thesecond user to access the session by sending an invitation to a contactidentifier associated with the second user account, the invitationincluding a code or identifier associated with the session.
 8. Themethod of claim 7, wherein the contact identifier includes an emailaddress or a mobile telephone number.
 9. The method of claim 7, furthercomprising receiving by the second user an input that includes the codeto grant access by the second user account to the session.
 10. Themethod of claim 6, further comprising receiving an indication from thesecond user to remove the first selected electronic media file from thesession, and responsive thereto, removing the first selected electronicmedia from the session.
 11. The method of claim 3, further comprising:prompting the first user to enter a description explaining why the firstselected electronic media file is being selected for inclusion in thesession; and causing to be displayed on the display device thedescription with the thumbnail image corresponding to the first selectedelectronic media file and the interpretive tag associated with the firstselected electronic media file.
 12. The method of claim 6, furthercomprising: prompting the second user to enter a second descriptionexplaining why the second selected electronic media file is beingselected for inclusion in the session; and causing to be displayed onthe display device the second description with the thumbnail imagecorresponding to the second selected electronic media file.
 13. Themethod of claim 12, further comprising: prompting the first user toenter a description explaining why the first selected electronic mediafile is being selected for inclusion in the session; and causing to bedisplayed on the display device the description with the thumbnail imagecorresponding to the first selected electronic media file such that thethumbnail image corresponding to the first selected electronic mediafile and the associated description and the thumbnail imagecorresponding to the second selected electronic media file and theassociated second description are displayed in the session on the samepage on the display device.
 14. The method of claim 11, furthercomprising: storing in the session a plurality of selected electronicmedia files including the first selected electronic media file;receiving an indication from the first user of a selection of a selectedone of the selected electronic media files stored in the session;storing the selected electronic media file stored in the session in aperspective that is distinct from the session; prompting the first userto enter a description explaining why the selected electronic media filestored in the perspective is being selected for inclusion in theperspective; and causing to be displayed on the display device thedescription with a thumbnail image corresponding to the selectedelectronic media file stored in the perspective and at least oneinterpretive tag associated therewith.
 15. The method of claim 1,wherein others of the electronic media files are not associated with anyinterpretative tag.
 16. The method of claim 2, further comprising:causing to be displayed on the display device a timeline of icons of avideo-recorded interview with which the first selected electronic mediafile is associated, each of the icons representing a thumbnail imagecorresponding to a video clip of a portion of the video-recordedinterview; causing to be highlighted on the display device a first ofthe icons corresponding to the first selected electronic media file inthe timeline; receiving a selection of a second of the icons in thetimeline; and causing to be displayed a second thumbnail imagecorresponding to a second video clip of a portion of the video-recordedinterview and at least one interpretive tag associated with the secondvideo clip.
 17. The method of claim 16, wherein the second thumbnailimage is displayed as a popup.
 18. The method of claim 17, wherein thereceiving the selection of the second icon includes receiving anindication of mousing or hovering over the second icon to cause thepopup to appear.
 19. The method of claim 1, wherein the associatingincludes storing in the database the one or more distinct interpretivetags with corresponding ones of the at least some electronic mediafiles.
 20. The method of claim 1, further comprising causing to bedisplayed on the display device a listing of all tags associated withthe electronic media files stored in the database, wherein one or moreof the tags in the listing are selectable by a user input device, andwherein each media file in the subset of electronic media files in thesearch result is associated with the selected one or more tags.
 21. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising causing to be displayed with eachof the related tags a value corresponding to the number of electronicmedia files in the subset of electronic media files associated withcorresponding ones of the related tags.
 22. A non-transitorycomputer-readable medium encoded with instructions to cause one or morecontrollers to implement a method, the method comprising: storing in adatabase a plurality of electronic media files each including a digitalphotograph or a video clip of an interview of a human participant beingphotographed or video-recorded under observation or questioning by aresearcher in connection with a market research study; using acontroller, associating with each of at least some of the electronicmedia files one or more distinct interpretive tags, each of theinterpretive tags being a data element stored in the database andindicative of an observed behavioral, attitudinal, or emotivecharacteristic of the human participant; receiving, using thecontroller, (a) a selection of at least a selected one of theinterpretive tags or (b) a query that is run on the database includingthe interpretive tags; producing a search result responsive to thereceiving, the search result including a subset of the electronic mediafiles, each of at least some of the subset of electronic media filesbeing associated with at least one of the interpretive tags or with theselected one of the interpretive tags; causing to be displayed on adisplay device a representation of the search result as a plurality ofthumbnail images, each of the thumbnail images corresponding to adigital photograph or a video clip of corresponding ones of the subsetof the electronic media files; and causing to be displayed on thedisplay device a plurality of related tags associated with the subset ofelectronic media files, wherein at least one of the related tagsincludes an interpretive tag.
 23. A system, comprising: a databasestoring a plurality of electronic media files each including a digitalphotograph or a video clip of an interview of a human participant beingphotographed or video-recorded under observation or questioning by aresearcher in connection with a market research study; a controllerconfigured to associate with each of at least some of the electronicmedia files one or more distinct interpretive tags, each of theinterpretive tags being a data element stored in the database andindicative of an observed behavioral, attitudinal, or emotivecharacteristic of the human participant; and an interface coupled to thecontroller and configured to receive a selection of at least a selectedone of the interpretive tags; a query parser or language engine coupledto the database and configured to receive a query that is run on thedatabase including the interpretive tags, wherein the controller isconfigured to produce a search result that includes a subset of theelectronic media files, each of at least some of the subset ofelectronic media files being associated with at least one of theinterpretive tags or with the selected one of the interpretive tags, theinterface is configured to cause to be displayed on a display device (a)a representation of the search result as a plurality of thumbnailimages, each of the thumbnail images corresponding to a digitalphotograph or a video clip of corresponding ones of the subset of theelectronic media files, and (b) a plurality of related tags associatedwith the subset of electronic media files, and wherein at least one ofthe related tags includes an interpretive tag.